Restaurabits

Secrets and other curiosities

Detalle del brocado de la indumentaria de la obra de Ghirlandaio, "Retrato de Giovanna Tornabuoni"

The Golden Section and Giovanna Tornabuoni

Application of the golden ratio to Giovanna's face, in which we can see how it coincides perfectly with the result of the numerical proportion.
Aplicación del número áureo en el rostro de Giovanna en el que observamos cómo encaja perfectamente con el resultado de la proporción numérica

Did you know that Dürer’s spiral is based on the Golden Section and on Fibonacci’s sequence of numbers? To obtain the logarithmic spiral a series of golden rectangles joined by an arc are drawn.

In the study of the Portrait of Giovanna degli Albizzi Tornabuoni, we applied the pattern of the spiral to Ghirlandaio’s work and noted how the figure is laid out in space. The artist structures the elements along an axis and arranges them in an orderly manner. All the geometric multiplications are reflected in a single whole, which is the work.

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The face revealed

If you look at the reverse of the work, you will be surprised to see a design sketched in black. It is a face with the eyes, the line of the nose and the outline of the right side clearly marked. More curious still is that the same design is repeated on the front of the painting. Münter used a very similar type of stroke on both sides of the support, reproducing the forms and proportions, as if to create an identical design on the back and front of the painting.

 
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A mysterious horse

Did you know that there was more than one horse in Carpaccio’s painting? The study of Carpaccio’s Knight revealed unknown aspects of the work which show that his initial idea differed from what was finally executed.
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Saint Catherine’s enigmatic dress

Can you imagine Saint Catherine dressed in red? That is the colour we discovered during our research when the work’s materials were analysed. It would have been part of an initial version of the clothing of Caravaggio’s figure.

 
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